Today we have a short but excellent analysis of Mr Abbott’s “captain’s pick” PPL “policy” from the redoubtable Leone. Many thanks, Leone, for permission to turn your comment into a post, and hat tip to Billie for the suggestion and the links.

There are a lot of problems with Abbott’s PPL. It was initially suggested by his unmarried, childless barely past teenage daughters and is so obviously aimed at winning over the votes of wealthy women who work full time. It is supposed to encourage these ‘women of calibre’ to have more kids. Kids who will be raised by nannies and au pairs while mummy races back to her highly paid career as soon as the PPL money runs out. Kids who will be fodder for private schools later on. Money that will help the new parents keep up the payments on the lavish house and the lavish car and the lavish lifestyle at our expense.

For those working part-time or as casuals it’s not so great. To get the payment a woman has to prove that she has worked 330 hours – around 1 full day a week – in the 10 months before she had her child. Otherwise she misses out completely and gets the much lower baby bonus instead. Low-paid women could end up getting less than the current system pays. If you earn less than the minimum wage – the basis for the current payment – then you could get less PPL than you do now. More money for the rich, less for the low-paid. Typical.

Another twist to Abbott’s PPL. He’s all for using nannies and au pairs to provide government-subsidised child care. Will his ‘women of calibre’ be able to employ 457 workers to provide their in-home childcare? If they can they will, of course, pay these workers peanuts and keep a lot of that subsidy money for themselves. I bet there are already accountants working on ways it could be done.

Just to make it that much worse that great big new tax will – no ifs or buts, will – bump up prices across the board. Abbott will be taxing electricity providers, big retailers, insurance companies, fuel companies, transport companies and more and they WILL pass on the cost of his PPL. We will have higher prices in the supermarket, higher electricity prices, higher fuel prices, higher insurance costs – every aspect of daily life will cost more as we all fork out to cover the cost of Abbott’s scheme.

Or – Abbott’s company tax cut will compensate for the ‘levy’ and taxpayers will have to foot the whole cost. That means billions less available for essentials like health and education. Either way you look at it the average Aussie is going to be hit hard by this scheme.

The National are against Abbott’s policy, they say it discriminates against rural women.. There has been mumbling about Nats MPs crossing the floor to vote against the legislation should we elect an Abbott government. Let’s hope they never have to worry about that because they will once again be in opposition after 7 September.